The Process

It was a hot one (about 90 degrees), and so I don’t think that a lot of folks were really in the mood to try on hats and fondle skeins of wool yarn. I think I’ll try again in the Fall once the weather has turned and everyone is concerned with keeping toasty.Hopefully I’ll get accepted to participate in the Holiday Market in November.

But I did chat with a lot folks about the sheeps and my wool process, how I do it all in-house from shearing to knitted object.
I kind of take it for granted anymore, but I guess the entirely hand-processed aspect of my wares is fairly unique.

So I’ve started a page that outlines the steps that the wool takes from Sheep to Skein.
That at least gets us to the designing and knitting stage in the project life cycle.

I hope you enjoy it.

Oh, and speaking of designing and knitting, I wanted to share the recipe for my basic fairisle hat.

Pick out some cool, flashy colors.
Cast on 120 stitches on size 3 circular needles (16 or 18″ length)
Knit about 10 or so rows in corrugated ribbing.
Work two or 4 rows in garter stitch for a bit of a border.
Work chart below for body of the hat until approximately 6 inches from cast-on edge.

Place markers every 20 or 40 stitches for shaping the crown of the hat
Decrease 6 stitches per round until 12 stitches remain.
Run two working yarns through remaining stitches and weave in all ends.
Wash and block, and there you have it!